Chalk Body Outlines Appear on City Sidewalks

Thursday, August 2, 2012

More than a dozen sidewalk chalk drawings — which could be interpreted as impromptu political statements or premeditated guerrilla art, or somewhere in between — appeared throughout the city this Thursday.

Most are life-size human outlines with descriptions, dates, and names of people reportedly killed by law enforcement officers throughout the country in recent years.

Photo Gallery

All the drawings, according to a SBPD spokesperson, are technically illegal but, because of public safety coverage for Fiesta and other pressing issues, won't immediately be washed off.

Eight such sketches were found at seemingly random intervals on the sidewalk in front of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse along Anacapa Street between Figueroa and Anapamu streets. An “artist's statement” reads: “ESTIMATED 400 PEOPLE A YEAR IN THE U.S. ARE KILLED BY POLICE.” (See the attached photo slideshow.)

Other body outline drawings could be seen along State Street in front of Paseo Nuevo Mall.

I think the street artist should pick a different person to champion. I Googled Michael Nida's name. He was stopped because he matched the description of an armed bank robber. He then ran and got stopped and he ran again when he got shot, Sounds like he is partially to blame for what happened. They said he was afraid because he had pot in his pockets. Yet another reason we should legalize it.

The truth is Michael Nida was a completely innocent and non-violent person as far as we know. There is nothing wrong with having a plant in your pocket and there is certainly no reason to detain a person for it. He may have made a poor decision, but I don't believe the decision says anything about his moral character.

If more police stood up and stopped enforcing these laws then we would be closer to a day when Michael Nida wouldn't have to run from the police.

Having marijuana in your pocket is illegal, that is why we need to legalize it. The cops thought he was an armed bank robber, he ran because he had pot on him. If he knew the reason I am sure he wouldn't have run. The news also said he ran because of prior problems with cops.... Sounds like he had issues. Any death is sad, he should have just taken the weed ticket.

I wonder what the world would look like without law enforcement. Oh wait, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, Africa pick a country on the other side of the globe or just watch the nightly news. Human life becomes nothing of value without law enforcement. Human tragedies occur daily. 99.9% are caused by idiots......

Just enough information for it to be inflammatory, and not enough information to actually know the whole story. I'm going to lean heavily on the law of averages and say that if one person decided it was a good idea to run from the cops, chances are the rest of the back stories are proably about stupid people doing stupid things.

Yes, bravo to the artist. For encouraging anarchy through FUD. Bravo indeed.

The art was the work of participants in the Occupy Santa Barbara movement, acting in solidarity with Anaheim residents currently in struggle against the brutality of their local police, who recently shot an unarmed man in the back and the head, and when neighborhood residents met at a bbq to discuss a response, the Anaheim police arrived and shot the crowd (including small children) with rubber bullets and a police dog. Occupy Santa Barbara chalk artists also distributed literature calling for strong and democratic civilian oversight boards to punish rogue police, and for the organization of accountable, diverse and directly democratic neighborhood security forces as an alternative to traditional unaccountable government policing.

That Anaheim guy that you champion was a known gang banger who threw a bag of drugs from the cops when he ran away from them. He threatened them and they thought he had a weapon. There is more to the story than you claim. The people "gathering" also threw rocks and bottles at the cops. Telling only one side of the story is a disservice.

Re: Michael Nida....amazing how the cops and the Media gets it all wrong and everybody buys the stories that are erroneously reported or printed, and then the reader or listener adds their own little spin to the story. Michael Nida was NOT running because he had pot in his pocket, and he did NOT match the description of an armed bank robber. The alleged robbery was at a nearby bank ATM, and the two robbers (per the police scanner) was two black men in dark hoodies. Michael Nida was NOT black, and he was NOT wearing a hoodie. He was running because he ran across the street (j-walked across a busy intersection) to a tobacco store to buy his wife cigs, while she pumped gasoline. Cops saw a guy running, stupidly thought they had their robber, and proceeded to shoot him in the back with a machine-gun. He was NOT involved in a crime, was NOT armed, was NOT a gang member, was NOT on probation or parole, was NOT a felon. He was an innocent husband and father of 4, out on a date with his wife to celebrate his upcoming birthday. Overzealous, rogue cops who thought they were in the old wild-west, or playing a modern video game, decided to take down the guy who was running....after all if he was running, he must be a bad guy......unfortunatel for him and his family and friends, they targeted him. He lost before it ever began....he was targeted and profiled....when he started to run back across the street after buying cigs for his wife,he realized he was surrounded by cops pointing guns at him, he didn't know why, they didn't yell stop or I'll shoot....why should they, he didn't have a gun, why should they shoot? Out of fear, he ran for his life, and lost! Cops became judge, jury and executioner that night.....not the kind of America I was raised to believe in!! You say why did he run.....Kelly Thomas in Fullerton did not run, and the cops beat him to death! Thus, if a cop is bent on killing, it doesn't matter if their so called suspect runs or stands still....if a cop has it in his mind to kill, he will kill!! Michael Nida II was in fact a victim of police brutality, cops who used lethal force because he dared to run! Running when you fear for your life is not a crime! By law, a police officer cannot use lethal force unless he fears for his life or the life or others. How does running away cause fear in a cop? And don't you even question why a cop is carrying a machine gun?? Did he think he was playing "Call of Duty - Modern Warfare" the video game?

Boy JeanThax it seems you knew what Mike was even thinking. How is that possible? I think I will trust an autopsy report over an anonymous poster who is clairvoyant. Coroner found pot in his pant pocket. It should be legal.

Wrench said: "Anaheim police arrived and shot the crowd (including small children) with rubber bullets and a police dog."

They shot the crowd with a dog? The poor thing! Where's PETA and the ASPCA?

No one will ever make the argument that police officers sometimes make bad calls (especially viewed with the luxury of hindsight and ample time), or that there aren't simply bad cops out there, but the police are not the enemy. They do a miserable job that I certainly wouldn't want to do, but certainly appreciate having done.

In my youth, I once found myself in the wrong place at the wrong time, and had an officer draw his sidearm on me, thinking I was someone else. It was not a pleasant experience, but you know what? I obeyed his instructions and acted calmly, and it was sorted out. I didn't run away -twice- from armed officers obviously on the look for someone.

I commend the protestors for wanting to make the world a better place, but I question their targets. The top killer of Americans is heart disease. 600k die each year. Draw your graffiti outside a McDonalds. Stop protesting those who are trying to protect you, and start protesting those who get rich killing you.

@ deniseL -you don't have to be clairvoyant to know that Michael Nida wasn't afraid of the legal amount of pot he had in his pocket....I knew Michael, and he knew the legal amount of pot he could and could not carry! And I have read the autopsy report, that's not clairvoyance, that's just being educated enough to read and understand! Have you read the autopsy report? Like I said, I have!!He was shot in the back!!! Not the front as he would have been if he had been aggressive towards the cops. And he did not have a gun or other type weapon...I was there that night immediately following the murder! Were you? I watched the cops search the area, diligently, looking for a weapon! Were you there! Yes, I knew Michael Nida, knew him his entire life... he had just left my house not 20 minutes before he lay dying on the street. So I don't have to be clairvoyant to know what happened....did you know him? Sometimes cops just royally screw up, and in this case they did more than screw up, they murdered! A cop who cannot use good judgement should never be on the streets carrying a gun! Did you even ask yourself why only one cop pulled the trigger...if he had been a threat, more than one cop would have put a bullet in him! Are you the kind of person who just blindly accepts the actions of a person just because he/she holds a particular position of employment or is in a responsible position in life? Do you never question the actions or decisions made by someone just because they are a teacher, cop, priest, politician, or even a parent? There are criminals, thieves, people with no integrity, lazy and sick people in every profession and in every station in life....do you never question their actions just because they should not be making poor decisions or doing wrong or criminal things? The cop who shot Michael Nida is guilty of murder, and should be charged with murder, just as the cops who murdered Kelly Thomas in Fullerton, CA should be convicted of murder....and those who stood around and watched this crime take place with out intervening should also be charged as accomplices to his murder. There are murderers in all walks of life, protect yourself and your loved ones, and stop walking around with blinders on!!!

The Fullerton cops were in the wrong, but you can not use other people's actions in a totally different case to blindly justify your example of Michael Nida.

You ask me a lot of questions, you are obviously angry.

Let me ask you a question since you know so much. If Michale Nida did not run away twice from the police would he still be alive today?... Yes.

Did Michael Nida have a role in his own death?... Yes

Sorry for your lose, but some of the responsibility lies on Michael for the outcome. Did the cops error? Yes, but looked at in the bigger picture it is understandable. The way I read it they thought he was a bank robber armed right? Him running and turning at them in an agreesive manner made them afraid.

If Michael Nida acted like a responsible adult, like 98% of us do, then he would still be alive today. Were you there for that?

I too want one of the much vaunted firearms that uses canines as projectiles...I wonder if I change magazines and/or barrels I could launch my bunny as well? Jeez, at least rabbits procreate like, well rabbits, so the ammo will be cheap and available.Wrench appears to be smoking too much pot to put together anything but a syncopated(at best) stream of logic.